Report: Chad Johnson previously had abused wife

Posted by Mike Florio on August 16, 2012, 11:12 AM EDT

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The filter that we apply to story possibilities is getting thicker and thicker when it comes to receiver Chad Johnson, especially since no team has shown any interest in him in the four days since he was cut by the Dolphins. But the latest report regarding the situation merits a quick mention.

The marriage was reportedly “volatile” in nature, and that he once went “off the scale” (whatever that means) because he didn’t want her friends and assistant living in their house. According to the report, “friends were genuinely concerned for her safety.”

The report also claims, citing the unnamed source, that Johnson once threatened to kill Lozada.

If any of this is true, then there should be more witnesses — and they should be willing to go on the record. Even if they aren’t, they could eventually be testifying in court, if the criminal assault charges against Johnson aren’t otherwise resolved.

Regardless of whether others will talk and/or testify about abuse they witnessed, Lozada should be able to add more allegations, either in court or publicly, to go along with her contention that he head-butted her on Saturday night. Unless and until she or others do, it’s hard to give this new report much credence.

I’d “go off the scale” too if that crazy woman wanted her friends and “assistants” living in the house.

jibanez0810 says:Aug 16, 2012 11:21 AM

If he was abusing “from the beginning of the relationship” then why dd she marry him? I ain’t saying she a gold digger but she…no wait. Yes I am, I am saying she’s a gold digger.

rg3greatestqb says:Aug 16, 2012 11:23 AM

Chad has no one but himself to blame for even starting a relationship with a person with a reknowned checkered past and for doing what he did. I’d like to think others will learn, but it’s a neverending cycle because of the “It will never happen to me” attitude.

Nevis says:Aug 16, 2012 11:26 AM

Personal issues aside, the biggest issue for Chad’s future is that he is a shell of his old self.

He wouldn’t have made the Dolphins without the arrest and given the state of the Dolphins, that’s really saying something.

panamon says:Aug 16, 2012 11:27 AM

“he didn’t want her friends and assistant living in their house.”

How ridiculous right? Look I feel quite bad for her being abused (especially the headbutt so bad it caused a large cut, though the “kill you” thing the only specific listed makes this report sound light), but why in the world did they think this would work besides sex and reality TV?

vottorific says:Aug 16, 2012 11:27 AM

Hey Mike, thought you were not going to write about Chad anymore. He’s irrevelent, remember?

I dont blame him for not wanting her friends, and assistants living with them in his house. They dont need to mooch off his success. Their grown, buy your own house. I dont believe in hitting any woman but the more and more I hear about this, sounds like he was set up and drove to do it. Chad has my support

Funny how this “abuse” stuff comes out after the media and world hear about it….if your “friends” are that concerned for your safety you would think they would go to the police a lot earlier

schmitty2 says:Aug 16, 2012 11:36 AM

Definetely not defending Chad headbutting her but have you watched her on Basketball wives? She was engaged to Antoine Walker then marrys Chad (Goldigger) and has a nasty temper

eyeh8goodell says:Aug 16, 2012 11:38 AM

Chad chose his partner. But yeah who can blame him for not wanting his gold-digging wife’s friends and assistant living in his house. No guy who’s pair isn’t in his wife’s purse would ever go for that. And yeah, just what in the hell does she ned an assistant for? And let me guess, Chad was the one paying for that assistant. No doubt she’s cut from the same cloth as the Kardashians.

More PR stunts. One thing I know about women, there are two types, the ones who put up with abuse and those who don’t.

If she was “getting beat from the start” as the friend says (as opposed to this being a horrible publicity stunt that’s not fun or funny like it’s increasingly looking like, she wouldn’t be getting divorced now. Abused women put up with it for years, women who don’t get abused (as this woman’s reputation suggests) do not, and certainly don’t marry their abusers.

It’s just like Kim Kardashian” “heartbreak over getting cheated on or whatever supposedly happened in her similar sham wedding (although her PR stunt certainly wasn’t as dark). If she was outraged by cheating as she claims to be, she never would have married him (save all of that money and free stuff the E network gave her).

Same thing here, these clowns have pulled some similar nonsense off, and Chad Johnson is officially an idiot to want to be in the limelight this bad to have been complicit in this thing. Making domestic violence the centerpiece of “entertainment” and a PR stunt isn’t cute. Grow up kids, especially the PR people who dreamed it up.

joetoronto says:Aug 16, 2012 11:49 AM

And the hits just keep on coming.

blackandbluedivision says:Aug 16, 2012 11:49 AM

You need to describe this “abusive from the beginning of the relationship.” They never said it was physical. Either way, I agree. Why did she stay with him in the first place? This just looks like another way for her to come out smelling like roses.

sterilizecromartie says:Aug 16, 2012 11:59 AM

So Chad comes home from a hard day of work and sweat and sees her assistants and friends in his house… eating his food… sleeping under his roof?

I would never hit a woman but I could see how that would tick him off.

sterilizecromartie says:Aug 16, 2012 12:00 PM

And I guarantee the “source close to” them is one of her golddigging friends.

enders9 says:Aug 16, 2012 12:01 PM

Unnamed source…….. sounds like Lozada is leaking bs information to help her in her pursuit of Chad’s money.

But seriously, I have a hard time buying into anything that lady says. She was crazy on Basketball wives, and from everything I’ve seen she is just a cleat chaser looking for an athlete to get money from. If this was happening during the entire relationship, then why did she stay with him so long? Why did she marry him? And she will marry him after he threatens to kill her, but she divorces him after 41 days for a head butt? I’m not at all excusing what Chad did (if he even did it), but in the grand scheme of abuse a head butt is pretty minor, a lot of abuse victims are getting the hell beaten out of them and hit/kicked repeatedly. I personally would much rather have a quick head butt then get my ass kicked for 20 minutes straight. So I have a hard time believing that a head butt is what finally pushed her over the edge after being abused for nearly 2 years and having her life threatened.

Now I’ll play devils advocate and say that this was happening the entire time….. considering the fact that she dated him for (I think) close to 2 years now and was abused for 2 years, and now that she is divorcing him so early in the marriage because he did something that he has been doing the entire relationship…. that just tells me that she married him solely to take his money. And any sympathy I might have had for her just flew out the window.

Not to mention that this IS out of character for Chad. I know about his arrest 12 years ago. But your character changes completely over 12 years, especially from age 22 to age 34. Most 22 year olds are still immature, especially if they are still in college (like Chad was). By age 34 you have matured a lot and very likely view the world completely different than you did at age 22.

Chad needs to take the year off, focus on the case, and train differently so that he can use the cliche “I’m in the best shape of my life.”

I don’t think anyone wants him now because the case is possible for conduct-policy violation, the diminishing talent, and the distraction of his presence and the media hoopla that surrounds this. Hopefully, next year.

Right now his life is a mess and he needs to just turn it around.

Kaz says:Aug 16, 2012 12:17 PM

Blaiming the victim is never good. So let me attempt to uplift women. If your man shows signs of violence/abuse prior to marriage (and there are always signs). DO NOT marry them.

I saw a youtube video of this woman assaulting somebody(at a bar I think) else last week. I think it was from her basketball show. I don’t want to be judgemental w/o any facts but given her behaviour in the past, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that she instigated the whole thing that evening/night. Chad was still dumb to hit her though.

Off the scale because he didn’t want her friends and assistant living in the house? Those are the people probably bringing this up. Why would he want moochers and freeloaders lving in his house. Get your own damned house.

Her claims of abuse this time seem exaggerated to more than just me, and if she cost the man his job from a lie or exaggeration then…

According to the report, “friends were genuinely concerned for her safety.”

Talk about BIASED REPORTING. Of course HER friends were “concerned for her safety,” … HER friends also wanted to live in THEIR house and weren’t getting it

4gone says:Aug 16, 2012 1:40 PM

Lozada just joined the concussion lawsuit against the NFL.

Off the field stuff aside, really concerning that CJ has had such a tough time learning the offense with his past 2 teams. Believe that will be the real reason no team will take a chance on him going forward.

If you’ve seen her stupid show, you’ve seen her level of moral character, or lack thereof.

I don’t condone her getting hit, but I’m having a hard time not visualizing her antagonizing the situation in some sort of fashion.

nobandwagonridersallowed says:Aug 21, 2012 10:41 PM

I don’t even know why people have wedding vows anymore. Everybody (woman primarily) just wants a bigger show than the next gal… For better or for worse my a$$. She didn’t even wait a week before filing for divorce! She knew what she was getting into (finding the condom receipt) before they got married. She was once a groupie, but now the tables have turned. Dude lost his job. Smh. Makes for good reality tv I guess

lynncarter says:Mar 22, 2013 9:34 PM

JC. I can’t believe that there are conversations about “gold digging”, “reality tv”, “money”, “friends moving in..” and the fact that Evelyn Lozada hit another woman and Evelyn Lozada’s crazy ..what does this have to do with Chad physically abusing her?. and where the heck does Kim Kardashian fit in all of this!? “Evelyn Lozada brought it on herself” I guess this is the level of thinking here?
Simple scenario for simple minds: IF you owned a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport and you were burning rubber all around town with your “Friends” and some 18 Wheeler came along and decided that you were all wrong, and this, twice your size vehicle, head butted your pretty little bumper butt into next week, then the whole neighborhood turned on you and said “Well, that little Bugatti was just looking for it, it deserved it.” would you like it?

You don’t just physically abuse someone because you can, or you’re bigger or you have more money or power. IT’S WRONG!
Sorry about the “simple minds”. Ignorance is more appropriate.